Two more high profile, former CIFL officials arrested
View(s):Two more high profile suspects have been arrested and joins Deepthi Perera, former chairman of the failed Central Investments and Finance Co (CIFL), in temporary custody over the CIFL crash.
CID took into custody J.K. Wickramaratne, former CEO and S. B. Kondadeniya, a former Director, CIFL and produced them before Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya on Tuesday who ordered that they be remanded till September 23.
In the meantime, Deepthi Perera, in hiding in Cambodia and arrested on arrival in Sri Lanka on August 10 with a bogus passport, on Tuesday presented to court – through his lawyers – a restructure plan to revive the collapsed finance company.
He submitted the plan (based on his promise) after a court-directed meeting with the Central Bank last week.The Magistrate gave one week’s time for the Central Bank and the CIFL Depositors Association (CIFLDA) to go through the plan and make their observations and re-fixed the case for 23 September.
Hundreds of depositors of CIFL were left high and dry after the company – like many finance companies that failed – were unable to pay, first their interest and then their deposits, some years ago. Under the plan, a loan amounting to Rs. 1 billion will be sought from the Central Bank Insurance Fund while a foreign investor is to invest Rs.1 billion which however would be ploughed into CIFL only after nine months. Mr. Perera plans to settle the existing deposits amounting to Rs. 3,400 million spread over five years.
According to the plan the first payment of Rs 75 million would be paid after 11 months of the CIFL revival. Thereafter in the next year Rs. 510 million would be paid to depositors, Rs. 820 million in the second year, Rs. 1,205 million in the third year and Rs. 865 million in the fourth year.